After a turbulent couple of months, Clint Bowyer believes Michael Waltrip Racing has turned the corner.

Though the recent news that teammate Brian Vickers would miss the rest of the season with blood clots was another reminder of how much adversity the organization has faced since being embroiled in a team orders scandal.

"I don't know if everyone's at a good place, but the biggest thing is we have a good game plan," Bowyer said Monday.

"You set goals and come up with a plan of 'Where do we go from here?' It's been a day by day thing. I felt like we were turning the corner of trying to get past what happened in Richmond and then Brian out of the blue comes up with his illness. Oh my God, not again. When does it stop?"

Since suffering the heaviest punishment in NASCAR history for manipulating the finish of the Sept. 7 race at Richmond International Raceway and losing Martin Truex Jr.'s spot in the Chase for the Sprint Cup, MWR has weathered the impending departure of primary sponsor NAPA and announced plans to contract from three cars to two next year.

Yet Bowyer still is ranked sixth in the Chase for the Sprint Cup after scoring a third in Sunday's Goody's Headache Relief Shot 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

It was the best finish of the 2013 Chase for the No. 15 Toyota, but Bowyer still was disappointed with "a good shot in the arm" because he felt he could have snapped his winless drought this season. He believes he still can this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, where his team tested last week, or in the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, where he will test Tuesday and Wednesday.

Bowyer said the effort is indicative of MWR's commitment despite reducing its workforce by 15%.

"I'm very proud of where we're at considering all the circumstances," he said. "With all the distractions, all the melees going on with our organization, it would have been very easy to take our eye off the ball and lose focus and not be a factor at all. I'm pleasantly surprised by the dedication, hard work and drive of everybody.

"We're leaving at 6 a.m. (Tuesday) to test the next two days at Homestead. That dedication will get us through all this and the future will be brighter ahead."

Bowyer's contract runs through the 2014 season, and he believes MWR will remain strong next year with two cars and despite the absence of Truex, who has been freed from his contract and might be headed to Furniture Row Racing.

"I've found a good home," Bowyer said. "It's a young organization. Mistakes have been made and we've learned from them. We damn sure learned a lot this year, but all those mistakes only make you stronger in the future. The setback of losing Martin Truex – he's not only a good teammate, he's a good friend – not having him around is tough.

"But we've got a great game plan of scaling back to two cars. The team that won the championship last year (Penske Racing) only had two cars. This can be done. Two-car organizations can work. I'm glad they made the decision before we tried to make three cars work and didn't have the means. Definitely make sure you're hitting on all 8 cylinders and make the most of what you have."

Clint Bowyer took over the No. 33 Cheerios Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing at the start of the 2009 season to make room for Casey Mears in Bowyer's old No. 7 car.
Kevin C. Cox, Getty Images for NASCAR